Prioritizing Factors Affecting Water Security by Socio-Hydrological Approach (Case Study: Hashtgerd Plain)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Reclamation of Arid and Mountainous Regions, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

2 Social Business Institute, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The current century is be the beginning of a crisis  period and water  is the main factor and a vital element. Nowadays, water resources scarcity crisis has impacted most parts of the earth  and has caused serious damage and threats to people all over the world. In the meantime, due to factors such as spececific geographical location, disturbance and fluctuation in rainfall, Iran is considered as one of the water-scarce countries, and water resources situation in some areas is very critical. For this purpose, the goal of current research was to prioritize factors affecting water security with a socio-hydrological approach in the Hashtgerd plain of Alborz province, Iran. In order to investigate and evaluate the water security of Hashtgerd plain, the water security evaluation framework was used, which includes two main parts of hydrological and economic-social indicators. The sample size was calculated based on the Cochran's formula as of 152 people. To obtain the overall index of water security, the five criteria of water availability, water production, water risks, watershed health and water governance were measured. Then, the general values of the water security index were calculated and the prioritization of factors affecting water security was done using a multi-criteria decision-making approach. The results showed that the overall index of water security in the years 2013, 2014, 2015 is in a weak state while in the years 2016 and 2017 is in a very weak condition.

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